UAE Firm Bails Out

Is it over?

Can we get back to discussing Dick Cheney's marital infidelities and his habit of shooting friends in the face?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Dubai-owned company said Thursday that it was prepared to give up its management stake in some U.S. ports, a move made as congressional leaders warned President Bush that both the House and Senate appeared ready to block the takeover.

It was not immediately clear whether the announcement would be enough to cool widespread sentiment in Congress to pass legislation blocking the deal, which has become an election-year hardship for Republicans.

Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, took to the Senate floor to read to colleagues a press release from the company disclosing its plans.

"Because of the strong relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the United States and to preserve that relationship, DP World has decided to transfer fully the U.S. operation of P&O Operations North America to a United States entity," DP World's chief operating officer, Edward H. Bilkey, said in the statement that Warner relayed to other senators.

Will reason rule now that DP World has moved out of the ports deal picture?

I doubt it.

The uproar over this ports matter is ALL political. It's not rational. Therefore, I'm sure that this dead horse is in for some more beatings.

So much of the posturing and grandstanding over the DP World acquistion was about jockeying for position politically. The facts of the matter took a back seat.

What really matters is keeping the homeland secure.

Do you feel safer now that DP World decided to give up its management of some ports in the U.S.?

All better now?

As usual, Mark Levin has an insightful response. On his blog at National Review Online, he posts:

And the reaction from Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, and the appeasement wing of the Senate is hilarious: Reid is demanding a vote on a deal that no longer exists and Schumer is insisting on seeing the details of the now defunct deal. It's not easy being a weak-on-defense liberal.

Levin is right. It's not easy for the likes of Harry "The Body" Reid and Chuckie Schumer to deal with reality.

I do feel somewhat guilty that their difficulties are my entertainment. I guess I'll have to live with the guilt.